SOCCER

SOCCER; National Coach, Yes. American Coach, No.

By PAUL KUHARSKY

Published: June 18, 1995

WASHINGTON, June 17—
If the United States Soccer Federation ran a want ad during its search for a new coach for the men's national team, it might have included a line saying Americans need not apply.

Since dismissing Bora Milutinovic in April, the federation has been trying to recruit a foreigner with international experience. Carlos Queiroz, a former national coach in Portugal, turned down an offer in May. Carlos Alberto Parreira, who coached Brazil to the World Cup title last summer and was recently dropped by Valencia of the Spanish League, was the front-runner until today, when he accepted a one-year contract to coach Fenerbahce of Turkey.

In the meantime, Steve Sampson, an American who was one of Milutinovic's assistants, is running the United States team. Tinkering with his former boss's squad by forging a more aggressive attack, Sampson guided the United States to a 3-2 victory over Nigeria in the opener of the United States Cup '95 last Sunday in Foxboro, Mass. The next test will come this Sunday with a match against Mexico at R.F.K. Stadium here.

Sampson has been outspoken about his desire to earn the full-time job. The interim coach said his contract runs through July, which indicates that he will run the team through the United States Cup and the Copa America in Uruguay.

"If I give it too much thought, it makes me anxious and nervous and stressed," said Sampson, "so I try not to think about things that I have absolutely no control over and just do my job. If we get some decent results, maybe they'll consider me as a candidate."

But Sampson, who coached Santa Clara to a co-championship in the 1989 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, does not measure up to the standards the federation has set for its next national coach. Alan Rothenberg, the federation president, and Hank Steinbrecher, the executive director, crave someone with significant international experience and success. They want the new man to impart his wisdom on American coaches coming up through the ranks, to unearth far-flung talent and to use a plethora of contacts worldwide, said the federation spokesman, Tom Lange.

"Neither Hank nor Alan believes there is an American who fits that criteria right now," Lange said.

Some top United States college coaches are bothered that American coaches are being denied the opportunity the players are being given to grow while gaining experience and respect. New opportunities will arise with the start of Major League Soccer next year, but the coveted job remains out of reach.

"It's a closed shop," said Bruce Arena, the Virginia coach who has won the past four N.C.A.A. championships and has three players on the current national team. "The federation has a tendency that when you're good, they feel threatened. Unfortunately, a lot of the decision-makers have limited real soccer experience. They know the names, they know the faces, but not the game. And they're making the decisions and telling us we don't have the experience. In some ways, it is just comical."

The debate aside, the players seem comfortable with Sampson. John Harkes said it is time to settle the coaching situation, one way or another.

"It's very important right now to move forward," he said. "They're all saying, 'Bring an international coach in right now.' It doesn't matter. Give us a head coach that we know. Steve's under so much pressure it's ridiculous. The guy doesn't know whether he's going to be here next week, the week after in Copa America or in September. You make him head coach and then he's got confidence to make his own decisions and stamp his foot down."

Defenders Marcelo Balboa and Alexi Lalas said they were sorry to see Milutinovic go. For Lalas, the bad taste of the dismissal lingers.

"As much as people don't want it to affect any of the soccer or the players or anything like that, it can't help creeping in and that's unfortunate," Lalas said.

There seems to be a consensus on one point: Ultimately an American needs to take the reins of the American team.

"I think eventually it would be good to have an American coach," Balboa said. "Every other country has a system. In Brazil, all the coaches think the same, they have a national team with a Brazilian coach. In Argentina, everybody plays the same, they have an Argentinian coach. Eventually we need to find an American coach, be it Steve Sampson now if they start now, or down the road whoever. We're going to have to find a style to play and we're going to have to show that all the way down the line."

Listening to Balboa, Sampson nodded his head in agreement.

"The game is a game," he said. "Tactically, an American coach can be just as intelligent as a foreign coach. In fact, I would argue maybe even better because I think maybe the American players will rally around an American coach much faster."

But not everyone outside the federation believes the time has come to for the coach to have red-white-and-blue blood.

"We're naive if we say American coaches do have the same insights, the same experience level, when they haven't lived in the soccer culture," said Jerry Yeagley, who has guided Indiana University to 10 final-four appearances and 3 N.C.A.A. titles. "I think we still need help from those with the sophistication and wealth of knowledge that comes from their personal experience."